Robbinsville passes rent control ordinance, budget in council meeting

ROBBINSVILLE — Residents of Robbinsville expressed their frustrations and concerns with the township’s new rent ordinance before the council passed the ordinance.

Several dozen residents came for that ordinance and the township’s budget and some expressed concerns over potential rent increases, more utility payments and real estate tax payments that could come from the ordinance.

Township Attorney Mark Roselli said the ordinance came about from negotiations with the park owner, Larry Kaufman after he filed a lawsuit in 2009 over the township’s previous rent control ordinance. He said the township’s previous ordinance would not have held up in court and would have likely been struck down.

“I believe these are reasonable accommodations that would pass judicial muster and I know the existing ordinance would not,” he said.

He said the new terms, aside from rent increases, would not affect residents with a current lease, but new residents or residents who sign a new lease, could have to pay the new charges.

Residents of the park said they were concerned about how their leases would be affected by the new ordinance. Betty Sutch, the president of the homeowners’ association for the park, said the residents did not want to open themselves up to negative repercussions.

“The people in this park are afraid, we have been hurt so many times and we are afraid of what he is going to pull on us,” she said.

Sutch said the move would likely make it easier for Kaufman to sell the park and Roselli agreed.

“I don’t think this would be a stretch to say it would make it easier to complete that transaction,” he said.

“You know what that would be a blessing, people light candles for that,” she said.

The last attempt to sell the park fell through at the end of 2011, when Hamilton-based Allies, Inc., tried to buy the park for $5.5 million with an additional $2.1 million in township affordable housing trust fund.

The township also passed its $21.9 million budget, which includes a 4 percent tax cut. Mayor David Fried said the cut came primarily from the tax deal with Internet commerce giant Amazon when he presented the plan. The company will open a warehouse in the township by next year, and provide more than $600,000 annual payments in lieu of taxes.

Fried said the average homeowner in the township, valued at more than $400,000, would see a reduction of about $76.

Resident Michael Morkin said that he would hope the township would continue to try and pay down the township’s debt, which stood at $44 million in the budget. Part of the increased revenue from the Amazon deal went to increased debt payments.

“I hope that its not just this year but you’re going to do it her out with that,” he said.